If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve met Armani. I wrote a story about Armani to help kids who might have to take medicine they don’t like.
Armani is a cat who came to live with me the week before I started graduate school. His mother was a stray, and he and all his brothers and sisters needed homes. Unfortunately, my landlord said I couldn’t take them all, but I’ve been Armani’s cat-mom for more than 10 years.

Armani likes to eat, sleep, watch cars from the window, and chew on things I’d rather he not chew on. He likes to sit on top of the refrigerator and yell if I don’t share my dinner with him. And since I started working from home, he likes turning off my camera in the middle of sessions and showing his butt to my clients.

A couple of months ago, Armani started having a lot of trouble climbing to his favorite spots. We thought he might have developed arthritis, but he also showed some muscle weakness, and we took him to the vet, where we learned he has diabetes.
The good news is, diabetes is treatable! The bad news is, the treatment involves shots twice a day and blood draws twice a month to make sure he is getting better. As you can imagine, he does not love getting poked with needles. Like a lot of the kids I see for work, Armani does not like taking his medicine.

But since he started taking his medicine, Armani has started getting better! He is happier and more comfortable, and although he can’t quite get back up on the refrigerator yet, he can climb onto the kitchen counter!

Even though Armani doesn’t like getting his shots, he lets me give them because he knows he will keep getting stronger. He just thought you would like to know.